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Thursday, January 6, 2011

Who's That Queer? [David Cicilline]

Brought to you by Pistol Pete

David N. Cicilline is the U.S. Representative for Rhode Island's 1st congressional district. He is formerly the Mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, and was the first openly gay mayor of a U.S. state capital.

David was raised in Providence before moving to Narragansett. In high school, he served as president of his graduating class before heading to Brown University, where he established a branch of the College Democrats with his classmate, John F. Kennedy Jr. He took a degree in political science, graduating magna cum laude in 1983. He then went to Georgetown University Law Center where he earned a J.D., remaining in Washington, D.C. for a while to work for the Public Defender Service.

In 1994 he was elected to the Rhode Island House of Representatives, representing the 4th district on Providence's East Side. He won the Democratic primary to succeed retiring Rep. Linda J. Kushner with 56% of the vote and was unopposed in the general election. He took office in January 1995 and served a total of four terms in the legislature, during which time he came out as a gay man.

Cicilline was elected mayor of Providence in a landslide in November 2002 with 84% of the vote, following the downfall of controversial mayor Vincent Cianci. He was re-elected in 2006.

On February 13, 2010, Cicilline announced his candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives to represent Rhode Island's 1st congressional district which is being vacated by fellow Democrat Patrick J. Kennedy. In the Democratic primary held on September 14, Cicilline defeated three opponents and won the party's nomination. He faced Republican John Loughlin.Cicilline won the race with 81,098 votes to Loughlin's 71,443 and will represent Rhode Island in the 112th Congress.